Plenty of positives for beaten Mariners

Central Coast coach Alen Stajcic drew plenty of positives despite a first-up defeat, with the A-League's whipping boys of the last two seasons already looking far more competitive.

The Mariners took the lead at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday through a first-half goal to Serbian midfielder Milan Duric on his A-League debut .

A double either side of halftime to Wanderers captain and former Mariner Mitchell Duke ensured a winning return to their rebuilt stadium for Western Sydney, after three seasons of playing home games elsewhere

Central Coast enjoyed significantly more possession, but failed to take any of the handful of good chances they created in the second half.

The Mariners always looked threatening on the counter attack, but Stajcic felt they were also the better team in building from the back.

Duke scored the winner from an 82nd minute penalty awarded after the intervention of the VAR, though Stajcic disagreed with the hand ball call against Dylan Fox.,

He felt the Mariners deserved at least a point from what his Wanderers' counterpart Markus Babbel called a "50-50" game.

"I thought we controlled large portions of the game we had controlled passages, build ups, we were threatening in attack," Stajcic said.

''I thought our attack looked dangerous, I thought we looked solid at the back

"Bar the penalty and a corner (from which the Wanderers' first goal was scored), I don't think they created too many chances in open play, so lots of positives to take out of it.

"Certainly a lot for us to improve on.

"Apart from the result we played well. We definitely need to be better in the front third and score more of our chances that we created."

Stajcic will have another forward option for next Saturday's home game with Newcastle, with captain and striker Matt Simon available after suspension.

Highly rated youngster Sam Silvera started on the bench on Saturday, with Stajcic saying he needed to be managed after four months of higher intensity training.